Environmental Policies In Asia: Perspectives From Seven Asian Countries


Book Description

Environmental Policies in Asia highlights the environmental challenges Asian planners and policymakers face as the continent undergoes rapid economic growth in the 21st Century. Edited by Jing Huang and Shreekant Gupta, with contributions from leading Asian scholar practitioners, this timely and unique volume is the first of its kind to look at environmental policies and governance from the perspective of seven dynamic Asian countries. These include developed economies of Japan and Singapore, emerging giants such as China and India and rapidly developing nations such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. The volume discusses environmental challenges that stem from issues as local as poor recycling practices, to ones that are as vast and complex as global climate change. Engaging, accessible, and pan-Asian in scope, the essays also present creative ways in which these challenges are being addressed. This book is valuable to anyone who is keen on understanding Asia, its growth, and whether its rise is environmentally sustainable.




International Environmental Law and Asian Values


Book Description

Following decades of vigorous economic expansion, Asia is confronting the environmental consequences of unfettered development. This poses a challenge because of the strong bias of prevailing cultural systems in the region toward the goal of lifting standards of living over achieving ecological sustainability. This book juxtaposes international environmental norms and practices with relevant Asian policies and their applications in key areas. Roda Mushkat examines the fundamental principle of public participation in environmental law-making, as well as the "rights approach," against the emergence of democratic and human rights norms in the region. The complex relationship between trade and the environment is also discussed in light of the strong regional emphasis on economic growth, trade liberalization, and the aversion to conditionalities. Given regionalization processes in Asia-Pacific and elsewhere, this work seeks to establish to what extent such processes have led to the regionalization of international environmental law. International Environmental Law and Asian Values concludes that, although some gaps can be identified between international imperatives and regional responses, "Asian values" have not proved to be an insurmountable barrier to the spread of international environmental legal ideas. On the whole, the region is responding to impulses emanating from the global arena rather than resisting them consciously. The analysis and conclusions of this comprehensive and original work will be of considerable interest to scholars of international law and relations, environmental policy, comparative culture, economic development, and social change.




Energy, Environmental and Economic Sustainability in East Asia


Book Description

This book looks at institutional reforms for the use of energy, water and resources toward a sustainable future in East Asia. The book argues that developments in the East Asian region are critical to global sustainability and acknowledges that there is an increasing degree of mutual reliance among countries in East Asia – primarily China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It analyzes environmental impacts stemming from the use of energy, water and mineral resources via economic development in East Asia in the medium to long term (through 2050) through theoretical and empirical modelling. The book also evaluates the ripple effects of environmental and resource policies on each country’s economy and clarifies the direction of institutional reform in energy systems, resources and water use for a sustainable future.




Greening East Asia


Book Description

Introduction : the evolution of the East Asian eco-developmental state / Mary Alice Haddad, Stevan Harrell -- East Asian environmental advocacy / Mary Alice Haddad -- China's low-carbon energy strategy / Joanna Lewis -- Energy and climate change policies of Japan and South Korea / Eunjung Lim -- The politics of pollution emissions trading in China / Iza Ding -- Legal experts and environmental rights in Japan / Simon Avenell -- Local energy initiatives in Japan / Noriko Sakamoto -- Indigenous conservation and post-disaster reconstruction in Taiwan / Sasala Taiban, Hui-nien Lin,Kurtis Jia-chyi Pei, Dau-jye Lu, Hwa-sheng Gau -- Nature for nurture in urban Chinese childrearing / Rob Efird -- Sustainability of Korea's first "New Village" / Chung Ho Kim -- Environmentalism in China's Chengdu Plain / Daniel Benjamin Abramson -- Environmental activism in Kaohsiung, Taiwan / Hua-mei Chiu -- Indigenous attitudes toward nuclear waste in Taiwan / Hsi-wen Chang -- The battle over GMOs in Korea and Japan / Yves Tiberghien -- Grassroots NGOs and environmental activism in China / Jingyun Dai, Anthony Spires -- The eco-developmental state and the environmental Kuznets curve / Stevan Harrell.




Environmental Movements in Asia


Book Description

This volume paints a general picture of the environmental situation in Asia, backing it up with several case studies. Two major points are made in this general picture. The first is that environmental campaigns in Asia tend to have a local focus; they react to very concrete problems in the immediate neighbourhood and as such usually people are engaged in a cause for practical rather than idealistic reasons. Such can be seen in case studies from the volume dealing with campaigns against logging and tree plantations, tourist facilities and factories and in support or defence of nature reserves. This pattern is in marked contrast to the profile of the most successful Western movements (in terms of fund-raising at least) for whom the focus is on perceived problems in distant parts of the world. The second point is evidence in several of the case studies in the volume, namely that environmental campaigns cannot be understood in terms of environmental issues alone. Rather, they should be regarded as a form of cultural critique and frequently are a form of political resistance in situations where open political action is too risky.




Environmental Crises in Central Asia


Book Description

Environmental conditions do not exist in a vacuum. They are influenced by science, politics, history, public policy, culture, economics, public attitudes, and competing priorities, as well as past human decisions. In the case of Central Asia, such Soviet-era decisions include irrigation systems and physical infrastructure that are now crumbling, mine tailings that leach pollutants into soil and groundwater, and abandoned factories that are physically decrepit and contaminated with toxic chemicals. Environmental Crises in Central Asia highlights major environmental challenges confronting the region’s former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. They include threats to the Caspian and Aral seas, the impact of climate change on glaciers, desertification, deforestation, destruction of habitat and biodiversity, radioactive and hazardous wastes, water quality and supply, energy exploration and development, pesticides and food security, and environmental health. The ramifications of these challenges cross national borders and may affect economic, political, and cultural relationships on a vast geographic scale. At the same time, the region’s five governments have demonstrated little resolve to address these complex challenges. This book is a valuable multi-disciplinary resource for academics, scholars, and policymakers in environmental sciences, geography, political science, natural resources, mass communications, public health, and economics.




Energy and Environmental Outlook for South Asia


Book Description

South Asia constitutes a key geography in the world today considering its large population and related daunting energy and environmental challenges. Many countries in the region are faced with a growing gap between energy demand and local resources, resulting in an increased dependence on imports. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy demand in South Asia will grow at a rate more than double that of the world average in the coming decades. This book addresses the critical subject of energy and environmental outlook for South Asia and presents the wider challenges and the responses at the national and regional level. Features: Discusses and addresses the ongoing energy and environmental challenges faced by almost a quarter of the global population Includes dedicated chapters for each country and presents analysis and recommendations by regional experts Examines how deteriorating air quality and persistent natural disasters are severe environmental challenges for the region Discusses the implications of global warming and climate change for South Asia Includes practical case studies throughout Energy and Environmental Outlook for South Asia will benefit a wide range of stakeholders from various fields including but not limited to energy, environment, economics, national security, and sustainable development. It also serves as a valuable resource for academics, researchers, analysts, policymakers, and representatives of utilities, industry, professional bodies, financial institutions, think tanks, and developmental organizations to better plan their initiatives, activities, and policies. It will help countries in the region and also those around the world by learning from shared experience, and ideally by collaborating for energy and environmental prosperity.




Environmental Challenges and Governance


Book Description

The economies located in East, South and Southeast Asia have witnessed an interesting growth-sustainability trade-off over the last decades. While growth considerations have paved ways for deepened ties with growing trade-investment waves and increasing population pressure necessitated exploitation of hitherto unutilized natural resources, focus on environmental sustainability has been a recent consideration. The growth impetus still playing a key role in these economies, it becomes imperative that the countries effectively address the key sustainability concerns, e.g. air and water pollution, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, climate change issues like CO2 emissions etc. But how prepared is the governance mechanism of these countries, covering not only the legislative and administrative framework but also involvement of the judiciary, presence of spirited civil society and active engagement of stakeholders in policy-framing dialogues, to rise up to these challenges? The book seeks an answer to this question through the environmental governance mechanism and natural resource conservation policies in three vibrant regions within Asia. A holistic development dimension of sustainable development path emerges, through discussion of policies adopted by developed (Japan, South Korea), upper-middle (China, Malaysia), developing (India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand) and least developed countries (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal).




Effective Advocacy


Book Description

"Effective Advocacy examines successful environmental advocacy in East Asia to develop the Connected Stakeholder Model, which helps explain why a small number of advocacy strategies are particularly effective around the world"--




Confronting Environmental Change in East and Southeast Asia


Book Description

'This is clearly a book with great breadth and diversity... a valuable addition to the literature about east and southeast Asia.' T Forsyth, Development Studies Institute London School of Economics and Political Science, in Land Degradation and Development As their economies and populations expand, almost all Asian countries are experiencing profound ecological problems at the national, regional and global level; be it air pollution in rapidly growing cities, trans-boundary water pollution or climate change. While the countries of East and Southeast Asia are the victims of environmental change, they are also complicit in causing it at home and abroad. As these countries move towards international environmental cooperation, a central issue becomes the vital connection between foreign policy and environmental problems. Foreign policy is about pursuing and promoting national interests, however it is not always clear what a country's national interests are or ought to be, particularly with regard to complex international ecological issues. On top of this, it is almost always debatable how best to promote them. Confronting Environmental Change in East and Southeast Asia is a collection of concise, hard-hitting essays by a group of international experts and scholars that address these complex issues. The book takes foreign policy considerations into account in its analyses of how states and other actors in East and Southeast Asia confront environmental change through international cooperation and environmentally sustainable development. The first part of the book examines many of the actors, institutions and forces shaping environmental diplomacy and foreign policy in East Asia, with a focus on China and Japan. The second part of the book takes a deeper look at the relationships between ecological politics, international relations and environmentally sustainable development in East and Southeast Asia. Several chapters in the second part focus on how environmental foreign policies impact countries in the region as they endeavour to implement environmentally sustainable development. Together, the analysis and case studies in this volume illuminate how environmental change is confronted - or not - in East and Southeast Asia, with a host of important insights for researchers, governments, policy-makers, conservationists and business people dealing with the profound environmental problems facing the region.